Guilty Gear X Advance Edition

"Heaven or Hell?"

I came to a sad realization a few months ago. After my years of playing Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and countless other fighting game series, I had never seen or heard of Guilty Gear. Maybe it's because I don't have a PS2, or maybe its because the arcades in my town are crappy. Whatever the reason, the Guilty Gear series went right under my gaming radar. When I learned of its existence, I realized that my chances of ever playing one of the games was slim to none. The only thing left to do was to find the Guilty Gear X Advance Edition for my GBA. And when I finally tracked down a copy of this rare fighting game, I was hoping that it would be a good introduction to a realm of fighting games that I had never seen. And while this game serves that purpose, it pales when compared to its contemporaries on the GBA.

Unlike some other fighting game franchises, Guilty Gear makes an attempt at some sort of plot and story behind its characters. The game takes places in the not-so-distant future, in a time when biological weapons called Gears are used for military purposes. In a completely expected plot twist, the Gears revolt against their human creators. They eventually lost in 2081, when their leader, Justice, was defeated in an epic fighting tournament. Without a leader, the Gears couldn't function normally, eliminating the threat of another uprising. However, the peace was short-lived. There was one Gear left that had managed to retain its functions and attain sentient thought. Perceiving this new being as a threat, a bounty was placed on its capture. Whoever could fight this Gear and defeat it will gain not only a hefty sum of cash, but also bring upon a supposed era of peace for all humankind.

Yeah, it sounds pretty cliché by today's standards, but at least it gets the job done. Too bad there's nothing in the game that really tells us anything about who, what, or why we're fighting. Instead, you're presented with a screen of fighters to choose from. You've got almost twenty fighters that are ready and willing to fight to the death. While I'm no expert on the Guilty Gear series, I'm sure the veterans will recognize nasty Chipp Zanuff or the anchor-wielding May among the roster of fighters. All of the fighters come equipped with their own weapons, specials attacks, and even some attitude to spice things up. Once you've chosen your fighter, you're subject to a few bouts with the other fighters before finally coming up against the dreaded Gear. But if you want to spend some time breaking your own records, there are also the standard VS, Survival, Tag Match, and 3-on-3 Modes to try out.

Once you've assumed the control of a fighter, you'll have to learn their various movesets and attacks. Unlike some of the other fighters on the GBA, Guilty Gear places heavy emphasis on attack combos and specials. All of the fighters know plenty of cruel little tricks to dish out the pain. You can dash forward, hit your foe multiple times, do an uppercut, and intercept them in midair with only the pressing of a few buttons. You can rack up multiple hits and combos with only little effort and special moves. There's plenty of novelty in seeing May smack someone around with a giant anchor, but all of these moves can be combined and chained together to create some pretty impressive onslaughts. Also, the majority of the special moves are basic button commands, simple and easy to memorize. You can spend plenty of Training Mode sessions experimenting with your character until you've come up with your own unique battle strategy and combos. And since the control is very responsive and runs pretty smoothly, you have the makings for some intense battles.

However, there is one important element missing from this game: challenge. This latest rendition of the Guilty Gear series is incredibly easy to beat. It's not that the combos take out massive amounts of health or anything like that. You can literally beat this game with your eyes closed. The AI in this game is pathetic. It hardly ever fights back and never uses any of the characters' combos effectively. They practically stand there and let you pummel them into oblivion. Sure, they block a fair amount of the time, but it's only a matter of seconds before their face falls on the pavement. You can just sit back, relax, and button mash your way through the fight, never having to pay any attention to your foes attack patterns. There's no need to master the myriad of combos and specials, since you can just mash a weak attack button and still annihilate your opponent with little difficulty. The truly sad part is that this pathetic display of AI occurs even on the highest difficultly setting. With practically no opposition, you can breeze through the game without so much as a thought.

At least the actual presentation of the game almost makes up for this shortcoming. All of the characters are presented with a fair amount of detail, like Ky's flowing robe and Millia's incredibly long hair. Despite the fast-paced gameplay, all of the attack animations are timed perfectly, letting you fully enjoy the massive combos that you'll unleash on your hapless foes. The background stages have a fair amount of detail, like Axl's twilight city environment or the “I Love Johnny” sign on May's airship. Unfortunately, none of these characters have their own voices, opting instead for some garbled noises for the sound effects. Also, the stage soundtrack consists of some high-pitched mixes that can be a little hard on the ears. After hearing the excellent ported version of the Street Fighter soundtrack, I was expecting something that could make some use of the GBA's capabilities. It's a shame that there wasn't more time improving the audio quality before the game was released. While nothing can be done about the lackluster soundtrack, the script of the game makes up for the lack of voices. All of the characters have some pretty entertaining quotes, like Ky's infamous “You shouldn't kick so high” comment after his match with Jam.

In the end, the Guilty Gear X Advance Edition is a mixed bag. You have an impressive amount of characters to choose from. There is an amazing amount of combos and specials for you to tinker with. You also have an above-average graphical presentation mixed with a below-average audio quality to balance it out. But when everything is said and done, the game's utter lack of difficulty makes a devastating blow to its longevity. It's a real shame that there wasn't more time spent on making this edition of Guilty Gear more than a cakewalk. If it weren't such a mindless fighter, it could have easily been one of the greatest fighting games on the GBA. However, I'm still praying that another Guilty Gear comes to my favorite handheld someday. I seriously hope that whatever portable Guilty Gear comes next will be more of a game and less of a button mash-fest. But if you're looking for an easy way to kill time, try tracking this game down. It may not be the best out there, but it may still satisfy your fighting game needs.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/04